Has putting locking tuners on your guitar changed its tone?

Lewguitar

Lewguitar

Old Know It All
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When I bought it, my '97 CE22 had already had the locking tuners replaced by regular Schallers. Fortunately with the same footprint, so no extra holes.

I found some locking tuners (from '97 no less!) and yesterday I put them on my guitar and restored it back to stock again.

Seems to me that this guitar now has a slightly deeper tone. More solid.

Maybe the locking tuners add mass and that improves tone?

Just curious what your experience has been with the tone changing after you've put locking tuners on a guitar that had regular tuners before.

https://imgur.com/AW4gFmI

https://imgur.com/ti2CkOa
 
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bodia said:
Watch out Lew, the wing police are going to be after you! Calling @sergiodeblanc and @DISTORT6 :p

As for your question, it's a good one. I hope someone can provide a definitive answer.
Click to expand...
I find the winged locking tuners hard to deal with and if i wait to long between string changes I forget how to use them again.

But that's what was on the guitar originally.

The key to using them seems to be that once you have the string in the groove, to lock the string, you push the wing in the opposite direction to which the string post is being turned.

It's a three hand operation but you can do it with two.
 
Lewguitar said:
I find the winged locking tuners hard to deal with and if i wait to long between string changes I forget how to use them again.

But that's what was on the guitar originally.

The key to using them seems to be that once you have the string in the groove, to lock the string, you push the wing in the opposite direction to which the string post is being turned.

It's a three hand operation but you can do it with two.
Click to expand...

Learn from the master.

 
Lewguitar said:
When I bought it, my '97 CE22 had already had the locking tuners replaced by regular Schallers. Fortunately with the same footprint, so no extra holes.

I found some locking tuners (from '97 no less!) and yesterday I put them on my guitar and restored it back to stock again.

Seems to me that this guitar now has a slightly deeper tone. More solid.

Maybe the locking tuners add mass and that improves tone?

Just curious what your experience has been with the tone changing after you've put locking tuners on a guitar that had regular tuners before.

https://imgur.com/AW4gFmI

https://imgur.com/ti2CkOa
Click to expand...
Love that color !
 
I haven't done this on a PRS but I have put locking tuners on a number of my guitars. I can't say that I noticed any difference in the tone of them. I don't' know that I really tried to hear one either though.
 
I have a 93 Custom 22, Dragon 1’s, stop tailpiece with the original Schaller wing locking tuners. That guitar is fatter than an LP… total rock guitar….. there’s a point to this…….
At any rate, one of the threads here was from a member who had essentially the same guitar. He “upgraded” the tuners to a set of Phase 3 tuners and he said that it completely changed the fat sound of his guitar to a thin tone and then immediately went and put back the original wing tuners. The fat sound came back….
I remember clearly back when I was playing LP’s and I’d change out the lightweight tulip tuners to the heavier mass Grover Rotomatics or Imperials and the sound definitively had more of a concentrated fuller and louder fundamental tone with less high end, (which I’ve always liked) cause I was playing JMP Marshals at the time….
More mass on the headstock = a different tone, a shift in frequencies…
It seems that Paul over the years has gone in the opposite direction and is trying to achieve a broader frequency of tones with low mass tuners ect. Lower wind pickups. Not good or bad, just different.. No right or wrong answer..
I remember when my friend Aspen Pittman from Groove Tubes (rest his soul) came out with the Fathead brass plate that bolted to the headstock of Fender Strats ect. He did a demo for me as a Guitar store owner then (back when NAMM wasn’t nuts) and I could definitely hear the difference in tone. It shifted the tone to a lower frequency band…
I sold a bunch of them in my shop to many happy customers saying that they fattened up the thin tone of their Strats
 
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I would say the change from Schaller non locking to essentially the same with wings shouldn't make a difference. Fresh strings would make more audible difference . At least I can't hear something more.
I also changed non locking gotoh tuners to gotoh locking ones in a Tele, having the same results. I could just hear the fresh strings... My 2p and all that ...
 
Rod/ said:
Non locking to locking won’t make a difference. It’s the difference in the mass of the tuningReply machine (like I described above) that will change the sound
Click to expand...
I suspect there IS a small difference.

The connection of the string to the tuner is more solid and direct with the locking tuner than with a conventional tuner with the string wound around it 3 or 4 times.

The post of the locking tuner once the wing is attached and the little knob on top screwed down, seems like it would have to weigh more than a conventional tuner.

Multiply that X 6 and i can see it making a difference like the Fathead did.
 
Rod/ said:
I have a 93 Custom 22, Dragon 1’s, stop tailpiece with the original Schaller wing locking tuners. That guitar is fatter than an LP… total rock guitar….. there’s a point to this…….
Click to expand...
I have one too. A '95. I also prefer it to a Les Paul because it's easier to hold and to play and it's more resonant. It rings.

Mine has the Dragon I pickups and rotary switch. I like the sounds.

It's a road warrior and the plating on the bass side of the bridge is worn through to bare metal and looks dark.

Trying out some amber knobs on it. They look nicer than the old black knobs.

https://imgur.com/RPyHJnR
 
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Lewguitar said:
I suspect there IS a small difference.

The connection of the string to the tuner is more solid and direct with the locking tuner than with a conventional tuner with the string wound around it 3 or 4 times.

The post of the locking tuner once the wing is attached and the little knob on top screwed down, seems like it would have to weigh more than a conventional tuner.

Multiply that X 6 and i can see it making a difference like the Fathead did.
Click to expand...
You could very well be right.

I have one of the 2016 20th Anniversary of Private Stock model run guitars. Among other things, it has a Gen III tremolo with the PS-only locking saddles.

I've had a lot of PRSes with the various bridges they've used over the years, and the notes coming off this guitar have incredible definition, firm fundamentals to go with the harmonics, and tight, piano-like notes in the lower frequencies that truly startled me when I played it the first time.

The guitar draws me in every time I play it. Granted, there are other details that are different from most PRSes - more mahogany relative to the maple, for one thing. Nonetheless, I think the locking saddles are one of the reasons for this tone, which makes sense if you think about it: One might expect a more tightly controlled vibration in the bridge with less movement at the saddle to make a small (but audible) difference.

If that's the case, one might expect the same result at the other end of the guitar.
 
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